While newly-elected Speaker Paul Ryan boasted of laying out a new agenda, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the room of GOP lawmakers Wednesday evening that his main aim is simply to pass a budget and 12 spending bills. | AP Photo

Ryan implores Republicans to pick smarter fights

BALTIMORE — House Speaker Paul Ryan told a private meeting of congressional Republicans that they need to be a better “proposition party” by picking smarter fights on Capitol Hill and laying out a positive vision for the country.

The remarks — described by multiple sources who attended a Wednesday evening meeting — came at the front end of a three-day GOP legislative retreat at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront. Just days after President Barack Obama's final State of the Union, Republicans dressed casually in sweater vests and jeans gathered here to discuss plans for the year ahead.

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With Republicans controlling majorities in the House and Senate and a successful end to 2015 on clearing out deadlines, the mood is decidedly upbeat. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that the parties have very different goals. While Ryan boasted of laying out a new agenda, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the room of GOP lawmakers Wednesday evening that his main aim is simply to pass a budget and 12 spending bills, a statement that brought many lawmakers to their feet, according to an aide.

Republican senators have talked further about how to move those appropriations bills if Democrats mount filibusters. Senate Republicans are divided over whether to change Senate rules, but Republicans in both chambers are united on finding a way to enact all those spending bills into law for the first time since 1994.

"We're pushing to get to regular order so we can move those bills," said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota.

The "Congress of Tomorrow" retreat, which is mostly closed to reporters and the public, includes hours of private sessions with authors, thinkers and other political figures. Larry Kudlow led an economic discussion. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham talked about his new book about George H.W. Bush.

"We'd like to think of the House and the Senate to really be a think tank for conservative policy. That's really how this retreat has been set up," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, a member of GOP leadership.

Conservative pundit George Will told lawmakers at a closed breakfast Thursday that Congress is ceding too much constitutional authority to the White House, according to sources in the meeting. Finishing spending bills is viewed by Republicans as a way to fight that trend, lawmakers said.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and retired Gen. Ray Odierno are also slated to speak.